3 ms·

I've spent more hours modding Morrowind, Skyrim, and the Fallouts than I did playing the games. About 80% of that time is debugging various combinations of USER

I've spent more hours modding Morrowind, Skyrim, and the Fallouts than I did playing the games. About 80% of that time is debugging various combinations of USER-GENERATED mods that would reveal bugs Bethesda has certainly worked to sweep under the rug. But that's not a failure. It's not some packaging problem that has persisted because of narcissism. I ENJOYED that time, getting to play with the very concept of the game in addition to playing the game itself. The Nexus mods community is a godsend to a world that was so disjoint and chaotic, most people thought modding a game was just an urban legend. Thanks to Nexusmods, nontechnical players could mod their games with a single click on a website -- They created a mod management system on top of a game that didn't care to think of it -- and you're upset about it? Contrary to your narrative, the modding community is filled with love and is built on sharing -- far moreso than the open source community. That you could see it as the opposite really just shows you've missed the history of just how far it's come -- all the while, being little more than a curiosity for a fraction of the gaming community.

simion314 4y ago
Don't you think it can be done better? I am not against Nexus,I don't care about the drama in that community, the issue as you said is there are a ton of issues caused by installing mods one by one, the recent feature called "collection" is a hack on top of the old stuff , I don't hate collections - I think it can be done better if the modders would allow creating mod packs. I am proposing something similar to Linux distributions, you could start from a minimal install Linux install and install exactly what you want , or you could download some random script that install stuff one by one from a website, or genius idea have distributions like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Stuio, Mint, Ubuntu Crhistian and Satanic editions and if I don't have time I install the distro that matches my needs and has a community. I tried a collection of mods and it crashed for me, it is impossible to debug stuff when you start with a big collection and a beta software mod manager and a game like Syrim that updates a lot lately.
- dcow 4y ago
  Why can’t you publish the random script for nexus mods? If the issue is repacking/collections depriving the original mod authors of credit then a script that just tells nexus which ones to install and then patches any issues should be spiritually allowable, no? Linux distros have entire websites and communities of their own. No one is stopping you from building your own repackaged mod collection and associated website and offering such a service to users… you just cant do it one nexus because they don't want meta packages. Also FYI when Debian packages don’t work together the package maintainers and devs fix the issue. They don’t go create a new package that repacks the other packages and fixes the minor issue. It sounds more like the frustration is stemming from participating in a community of kids who spent a long weekend modding a game, published it on nexus and have since moved on. Happens in open source too to some extent. When this happens people start new projects or take over ownership. Not repackage “collections” of old defunct projects and make then work together…
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  I don't think you understand software development and architecture underlying all these distinct games. Basically you complain all over this discussion just about anything mods and community mean, expecting to be given 100% working game with unlimited amount of mods on top of each other, for free, consistently, across all official releases, with unlimited support forever. That's an impossible task to put it lightly, especially if folks do it just because they love the game and see its potential beyond current limitations, but otherwise have real life to live. Exactly kind of user that's so demotivating to modders actually doing the work. Comparing to Linux is ridiculous - its a single software thats here for 50+years (if I count where it all started), and various commercial companies + hobbyists invested tens of millions of man-days to get it into current state. You realize that if you are so unhappy with anything communities have done, you can still play vanilla game just like all consoles have it?
dron57 4y ago
> About 80% of that time is debugging The same is true for most other people. In the Free Software community the efforts of an individual that is willing to contribute back to the community would mean that the (current) issue would be forever solved. I understand that you enjoyed that time, I did too. We're both on "Hacker" News after all. But the utility of that time multiplied by the scale of the community means that less effort went back to community contributions.

simion314 4y ago

Don't you think it can be done better? I am not against Nexus,I don't care about the drama in that community, the issue as you said is there are a ton of issues caused by installing mods one by one, the recent feature called "collection" is a hack on top of the old stuff , I don't hate collections - I think it can be done better if the modders would allow creating mod packs. I am proposing something similar to Linux distributions, you could start from a minimal install Linux install and install exactly what you want , or you could download some random script that install stuff one by one from a website, or genius idea have distributions like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Stuio, Mint, Ubuntu Crhistian and Satanic editions and if I don't have time I install the distro that matches my needs and has a community. I tried a collection of mods and it crashed for me, it is impossible to debug stuff when you start with a big collection and a beta software mod manager and a game like Syrim that updates a lot lately.

dcow 4y ago
Why can’t you publish the random script for nexus mods? If the issue is repacking/collections depriving the original mod authors of credit then a script that just tells nexus which ones to install and then patches any issues should be spiritually allowable, no? Linux distros have entire websites and communities of their own. No one is stopping you from building your own repackaged mod collection and associated website and offering such a service to users… you just cant do it one nexus because they don't want meta packages. Also FYI when Debian packages don’t work together the package maintainers and devs fix the issue. They don’t go create a new package that repacks the other packages and fixes the minor issue. It sounds more like the frustration is stemming from participating in a community of kids who spent a long weekend modding a game, published it on nexus and have since moved on. Happens in open source too to some extent. When this happens people start new projects or take over ownership. Not repackage “collections” of old defunct projects and make then work together…
saiya-jin 4y ago
I don't think you understand software development and architecture underlying all these distinct games. Basically you complain all over this discussion just about anything mods and community mean, expecting to be given 100% working game with unlimited amount of mods on top of each other, for free, consistently, across all official releases, with unlimited support forever. That's an impossible task to put it lightly, especially if folks do it just because they love the game and see its potential beyond current limitations, but otherwise have real life to live. Exactly kind of user that's so demotivating to modders actually doing the work. Comparing to Linux is ridiculous - its a single software thats here for 50+years (if I count where it all started), and various commercial companies + hobbyists invested tens of millions of man-days to get it into current state. You realize that if you are so unhappy with anything communities have done, you can still play vanilla game just like all consoles have it?

dron57 4y ago

> About 80% of that time is debugging The same is true for most other people. In the Free Software community the efforts of an individual that is willing to contribute back to the community would mean that the (current) issue would be forever solved. I understand that you enjoyed that time, I did too. We're both on "Hacker" News after all. But the utility of that time multiplied by the scale of the community means that less effort went back to community contributions.